EATONVILLE -- Drive an hour outside of Tacoma, beyond where the eight-lane highways turn to two-lane roads, past the rickety barns and into the imposing majesty of Mount Rainier and you'll find a wildlife park that rivals any in the West.

In fact, the Tacoma Metro Parks' 33-year-old Northwest Trek served as the model for the San Diego Zoo's famed Wild Animal Park, which is perhaps more vast but less intimate.

Why, at Northwest Trek, you might quite literally join a herd.

During a recent visit, the scheduled 50-minute tram ride throughout the 435-acre free-roaming area ran 30 minutes long when a caribou, believing it was leading a herd, intercepted the tram and led it down the paved path.

Several times, park naturalist and tram driver Tom Neitzel tried to pass as the caribou stopped for a nibble only to have it gallop back to the front and return to a slow mosey.

"It's fun for a little while," Neitzel told his amused riders. "It gets tiring very fast."

The 723-acre park near the town of Eatonville also features a walking tour with all the trappings -- bears, wolverines, beavers, cougars, bald eagles, owls, wolves, foxes, an array of reptiles and other animals.

The free-roaming area is home to bison, big horn sheep, mountain goats, moose, elk, caribou and deer.

In all, the park is home to more than 200 animals and features 39 different species.

Between the tram ride, the walking tour and daily up-close animal presentations with their keepers, visitors have enough to do to make a day of it, park spokeswoman Cherilyn Williams said.

"Most people head straight for the tram station," she said.

The slow-moving tram crawls through the free-roaming area winding in and out of woodsy areas and open spaces, slowing when passing nearby animals.

"We'll drive through their home and they'll look in the windows at us," Neitzel explained. "It's like a great big zoo in reverse."

Animals are fed along the narrow path in the mornings and afternoons so they're accustomed to being near it. And while they'll glance to take notice of all the gawkers, they aren't at all spooked by the passersby. A bighorn sheep lying partially in the roadway barely moved as the tram glides by just inches away.

Though it's a slow ride, it doesn't take long to get started.

"Whoooa!" one kid shouted a minute into a recent ride, having spotted a large turtle resting on a log.

Riders become active participants, alerting the tram driver to animals they see.

"Moose at 3!" one woman shouted.

The park is open year-round and Williams says visitors will notice differences depending on the season. The animals' coats change as the weather turns. The bears don't come out of their dens much in the winter.

Behaviors change as mating season comes and goes. Want to see the elk bugle? Come in September. In November you might observe the bison getting aggressive with each other.

And without the foliage, animals have fewer places to hide in the winter. In the springtime, animals may be preoccupied with new grass and other edibles that have grown to clamor near the tram pathway.